This Edward Reed had handsome features and a tall, slender build. Dressed in a blue robe, he carried on his back an ancient-looking longsword adorned with a blue tassel, giving him the air of an immortal. Aside from the somewhat older David Bennett, this Edward Reed had already become the leading figure among the younger generation of Ethan Brooks disciples. Throughout Ethan Brooks, no one knew how many female disciples regarded him as their dream lover; among all the third-generation disciples of the Ethan Brooks sect, he could be said to be the most admired.

  “Ah ha, to receive such praise from Second Senior Brother, it’d be worth it even if I slept for another ten days or half a month!” Henry Clark laughed, scratching his head.

  “You rascal, always so lazy... Huh...!”

  Just as Edward Reed was about to scold Henry Clark with a laugh, he suddenly stopped mid-sentence, his gaze fixed intently on Henry Clark, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

  “Second Senior Brother, what’s wrong?!” Henry Clark felt a bit uneasy under his stare and asked nervously.

  “Good for you, Fifth!” Edward Reed exclaimed. “If I’m not mistaken, your Innate Purple Qi has already reached the great perfection of the second level. At this rate, you’ll probably reach the third level within a year, won’t you?!”

  “Senior Brother, you have sharp eyes!” Henry Clark replied with a smile.

  This Edward Reed’s Innate Purple Qi had already reached the third level, so he could naturally sense Henry Clark’s current strength.

  “What, you’ve already reached the great perfection of the second level!” Grace Carter, who was standing to the side, cried out, staring at Henry Clark. “No way, weren’t you still stuck at the first level like me half a year ago? How did you advance so quickly to the verge of the third level? Did you have some kind of lucky encounter, or eat some miraculous elixir? Hmph, you had a miracle pill and didn’t share it with me? You fat pig, you’re dead!”

  Grace Carter kept shouting at the side, making Henry Clark break out in a cold sweat. “Uh, well, it’s not that, I didn’t have any miracle pills. It’s just that before Master left the mountain, he saw my cultivation was lacking and gave me a hand while I was practicing, that’s all!”

  Hearing this, Grace Carter looked thoroughly disappointed. “So it was Uncle Mark helping out. Really, Uncle Mark is so nice. If only my dad were that good!”

  “Don’t be discouraged, Little Junior Sister!” Edward Reed said with a smile. “Cultivation is a process of long-term accumulation. If Fifth hadn’t reached the great perfection of the first level, Uncle Mark wouldn’t have helped him. You’re still young, and as a girl, your progress in cultivating Innate Purple Qi is naturally a bit slower. But your swordsmanship is far better than us senior brothers!”

  With his flattery and coaxing, Edward Reed had Grace Carter beaming with joy, as if she truly had become the number one female sword immortal of her generation in Ethan Brooks.

  The four of them chatted and laughed as they walked into the martial training ground inside the Ethan Brooks mountain gate.

  It was said that this training ground was originally a massive peak, thick and sturdy, which was later sliced in half by a great master of Ethan Brooks with divine power, creating the current vast platform. The place was so spacious it could hold tens of thousands of people, so it was eventually built into the current training ground, where the Ethan Brooks sect held its grand opening ceremonies and other major celebrations.

  Henry Clark and his group were not the first to arrive; the first were the newly admitted disciples and the outer sect disciples, followed by the inner sect disciples.

  As the privileged class among their generation, the ten of them naturally arrived last.

  Their clothing also set them apart from the ordinary disciples.

  Ordinary disciples, even inner sect ones, all wore standardized uniforms. Each Ethan Brooks disciple received four sets of spring, summer, autumn, and winter clothes every year, all in a fixed style. Only disciples like Henry Clark and the other ten, who had their own dedicated masters, were exempt from this dress code. Thus, the ten of them entered wearing different outfits, making them stand out among the thousands of disciples.

  Because they had joined not long ago, none of the ten, starting with Henry Clark, had ever witnessed such a grand opening ceremony, so they couldn’t help but feel curious. As their eyes swept over the thousands of disciples, they realized that all those disciples’ gazes were also focused on them. At that moment, except for David Bennett at the front, who remained composed, the other nine—including Edward Reed—all looked a bit uneasy.

  “Even though they don’t know us, to them, we ten are their highest goal at this stage, their role models. So, hold your heads high—don’t let them laugh at you!”

  At that moment, David Bennett’s voice reached the other nine, and they all straightened up, their earlier nervousness fading as they lifted their heads and puffed out their chests, becoming a striking sight.

  “David Bennett is a good kid!” Not far away, the middle-aged man who had just led the new disciples in said to the skinny old man beside him.

  Although David Bennett had used a secret voice transmission technique, which fooled the thousands of disciples, it couldn’t fool the two of them.

  The skinny old man nodded. “Yes, this child is indeed good. He’ll definitely surpass us in the future!”

  The middle-aged man smiled. “Of course. If he can’t surpass us, then... haha—!” He didn’t finish the sentence, but there was a hint of melancholy and loneliness in his tone.

  ...